2 Guns obviously isn’t a thriller, because it gives up the basic mystery right off the bat: apparent bank robbers Bobby (Denzel Washington) and Marcus (Mark Wahlberg) are really undercover agents, each of which doesn’t realize the other is also a lawman. Forced to team up after being disavowed in the wake of a messy operation, the two get into the sort of comedic action shenanigans that powered the mid-’80s career of Mel Gibson.

Director Baltasar Kormakur worked with Wahlberg on Contraband. (Which remade Reykjavik-Rotterdam, in which Kormakur starred.) This trailer suggests something a bit more fun, as it displays what seems like a deep love (or an abiding envy) for the films of Shane Black. It also suggests real silliness, as evidenced by what could be a very entertaining appearance from Bill Paxton, who drawls lines like “have I properly incentivized you?”

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Let’s quickly trace the evolution of 2 Guns, which is intended as an action film in which two undercover law officers end up investigating each other, both failing to realize that the other is a lawman, with mob money and the CIA wrapped up in the tale.

2 Guns is based on a comic written by Steven Grant with art by Mat Santolouco, and originally had a script by Blake Masters. When mentioned a while ago it was a possible vehicle to re-team Owen Wilson and Vince Vaughn. Owen Wilson dropped out, and David O. Russell came on to rewrite and possibly direct. But Russell is out now, as is Vince Vaughn. Now the only talent attached to the story is Mark Wahlberg. Read More »

Coincidence or not: on the same day that we learn Universal has passed on the Dark Tower adaptation that Ron Howard, Akiva Goldsman and Brian Grazer were trying to make at Imagine Entertainment, we get word that another old Imagine project at Universal has new life through a new screenwriter. Years ago the company got the rights to remake the 1968 (released in ’70) tech thriller Colossus: The Forbin Project — a sort of ‘computer develops sentience’ thriller that paved the way for War Games and other films — but for a very long time it has seemed basically dormant. Now it is back. Read More »

Their chemistry in the 2005 film Wedding Crashers helped make it a smash hit and now, Vince Vaughn and Owen Wilson might reteam for 2 Guns, an action comedy about two lawmen assigned to rob a bank together, neither realizing they’re both actually good guys undercover. The script was written by Blake Masters, the man behind the Showtime series Brotherhood which starred Jason Issacs and Jason Clarke. It’s being developed by Universal and while Vaughn is attached, Wilson is just circling. Hit the jump for more info. Read More »